Saturday, October 5, 2013

October 13, 2013 - 21st Sunday of Pentecost

Breaking Open the Scriptures Scriptures for October 13th : Jeremiah 29:1,4-7; Psalm 66:1-12; 2 Timothy 2:8-15; Luke 17:11-19; Theme: Remember that we are servants, not masters. Song: 2144 – Someone asked the Question 2 Timothy: Paul is talking to Timothy and giving him encouragement as a pastor. But his advice is for anyone who is a teacher, evangelist, or a faithful servant of Christ. We all have those times in our faith journey when we are discouraged. When we feel we are giving people are hearts for God, and the people we serve could care less. Not only do they not care, they ridicule us for our faith. Paul is telling Timothy that these are not the times to water down the gospel, but to tell it just as we know it. To give it to them straight. It is times of our faithlessness, that God shows that he is faithful. If we say that we don’t believe in God, God will still believe in us. If we are not a servant of God, then what else are we. Don’t give up, keep your strength. Be determined as ever to serve. Luke: It seems that the most common sense thing for us to do every day is to thank God for what he has done for us. We are grateful to receive a blessing, but how many of us remember to say thank you. As a child, my father would be very giving, and give me most things that I wanted. He said that the only thing that he wanted in return was for us to remember to say thank you. In this scripture, Jesus is telling us that God is the same way. God has given us a priceless gift. The lepers were separated from their lives because of their disease. After they were healed Jesus says to go and show yourself to the priest, once you are declared clean then go and reclaim your life. Well we are separated from our lives because of our sin. And once we are forgiven, we should go to church and show that we have a new life. It is our faith and our ability to say thank you that makes all of the difference in the world. Questions: how can we reclaim our faith once we have lost it? What prevents us from fully claiming Christ to all of the world? How can we overcome our reservations? What do we do to say thank you to God? How can we make sure that we are able to say thank you everyday? How can we tell the world about what God has done for us to cleanse and save us?

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